Thor Odinson had expected to have a rough time starting at Hogwarts. If it wasn't enough that he was the son of Odin, the Minister for Magic, most powerful man in the Wizarding World, or that he already felt homesick, even though he hadn't even boarded the Hogwarts Express yet. But those things were both shadowed by the fact that his older sister, Hela, whom he barely even knew, had tried to start a war with the Muggles less than 4 months ago. Their father had thrown her straight into Azkaban for her trouble and the only time they had spoken of her after is when Odin forbid Thor and his little brother, Loki, from ever mentioning her name again.
Thor correctly assumed Hogwarts would be much different. The professors and most of the students knew Hela, since she had only left the school two years prior. He expected to be bullied and teased and put down because of what his sister did. He also expected the same thing because of choices his father made.
However, when his nanny brought Thor to platform 9 ¾ for the first time, she also brought Loki along and Thor had to be brave for Loki. So he smiled and laughed, and ruffled his brother's dark hair before going off to the train. He was going to go put is trunk away when he heard his name being shouted across the platform. When Thor spun around to look back, Loki was running towards him at full speed, their Nanny chasing after him. He soon found himself with an armful of Loki, who was begging him to write every day, even though Thor had already promised he would. It took a few minutes for their Nanny to separate them, hoisting Loki onto her hip, even if he was almost too big, and ushering Thor off to the train.
Thor had been planning on sulking alone in the back car of the train, but half-bloods Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, who were raised in the Muggle world and had no idea about Thor's family drama, wandered in with bright smiles asking Thor what house he thought he'd be in. He said Gryffindor, like his father, and they said the same. Everything started to seem much better after that.
Thor spent the next four years molding Hogwarts into the perfect safe place for himself, and his brother, when he arrived. He told every student, professor, and house-elf that would listen that his little brother was the brightest wizard Thor had ever laid eyes on. It was saying something, because the brightest wizard at the school was one of Thor's roommates, Steven Strange, who was sick of Thor bragging about his little brother, thank you very much. Thor had vowed that Loki would have a much easier time arriving at Hogwarts, but he could have never predicted what would happen.
Loki's actual arrival at Hogwarts was rather uneventful. Their Nanny dropped them off at the platform, except this time both boys got on the train instead of just one. Loki sat with Thor and his friends in their car, and Thor bought him tons of sweets from the Trolley. Loki went with the other first years for sorting, and Thor eagerly awaited the event. He didn't care what house Loki was sorted into, so long as he was happy. When it was finally Loki's turn he sat on the stool and Heimdall placed the Sorting Hat on his head. After almost a minute, the Hat called out,
"SLYTHERIN!"
And everyone cheered, Thor loudest of all. Loki smiled shily at the Slytherin table, and sat down next to Thor's friend Natasha, whom he'd met on the train. It wasn't until the next morning that everything fell apart.
During Loki's first breakfast at Hogwarts, he decided to eat at the Slytherin table, trying to make new friends. It didn't stop Thor from glancing over at him from the Gryffindor table every couple of seconds, watching the younger boy talking to a red-haired Slytherin girl sitting across from him.
Loki looked up, amazed, when all the owls came in with the mail. Thor smiled at him at first, but it quickly turned to a frown when he saw one of their family's three owls, Hogun, come to a stop before Loki, with a red envelope in his mouth. Loki looked at the envelope curiously, having never seen this type of mail before, and innocently opened the letter.
"LOKI ODINSON!" it shrieked, making Loki recoil in horror, "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WERE SORTED INTO SLYTHERIN! NO SON OF MINE SHOULD EVER GRACE THAT REPULSIVE HOUSE! I THOUGHT I HAD RISED YOU BETTER THAN THAT, BUT YOUR RECHED MUGGLE PARENTS MUST HAVE TAINTED YOUR BLOOD!"
Loki froze as the letter continued howling, the rest of the words drowned out by the realization of what exactly his father had said. Thor, who had already been running to his brother, nearly fell on his face when he heard his father say that Loki had muggle parents, since he knew very well that both their Father and Mother were Pure-Bloods. Brushing the thought from his head, he kept running, casting a silencing charm on the howler before the words could damage his brother any further.
As Thor finally made it to the other side of the Great Hall, skidding to a stop before Loki, he was aware of every eye in the room on them. He quickly brushed the thought aside as he sat next to Loki, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Loki spun around quickly at the touch, as if Thor had broken him from a trance. He looked up at his older sibling.
"Did you know?" Loki asked, voice wavering.
"No." Thor answered.
Loki examined his brother closely, as if looking for Thor to show signs of lying, when he found none, he launched himself forward into his brother's arms and started to sob.
Thor wasted no time wrapping his arms around Loki, and as the younger boy sobbed in his arms, he glanced around threateningly at anyone who dared to even look in their direction. Most turned their gaze, but he did see Victor Von Doom and some other 7th years snickering in the corner.
"Loki," Thor whispered into his brother's ear, "I'm going to take you somewhere else, okay?"
Loki's tears did not stop, but he nodded into Thor's chest. Thor wound his arms around Loki so he could more easily lift the smaller boy up, and hoisted him into his arms. He glared at the howler, which was still mouthing words that Odin had sent to his youngest son. It looked as if it was about ready to explode, so he wasted no time getting Loki away from it as he swiftly walked out of the Great Hall.
Thor started going in the direction of Gryffindor Tower on instinct, before realizing that the sobbing child in his arms was not in Gryffindor. Fortunately, when he arrived the Fat Lady let him in without any questions, for which Thor was immensely grateful.
He brought Loki into the safety of his room. Luckily, all his roommates were gone, and he knew most of them had been in the Great Hall when Loki got the howler, so they would be staying clear for a while. Steven hadn't been there, but the guy basically lived in the library, and anyways, by now, someone probably told him.
Thor settled on his bed with Loki in his lap. His little brother's sobs had died down some, but his tears were still falling on Thor's cloak. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Thor was aware that classes were starting today. However, he could not find the motivation to tell Loki that they both should be heading to their classes and decided that they could wait.
After an hour or so, Loki had finally cried himself out, falling into a fitful sleep on his brother's chest. Thor figured he must have drifted off sometime after that, because the next thing he remembered was Steve Rogers shaking his shoulder.
"Thor?" Steve whispered, "Hey mate, you awake?"
"No" Thor answered.
"You weren't in class. I thought Professor Titan was going to find a way to expel you himself."
"Did he?"
"No, Headmaster Fury came in and told him you and Loki were excused from classes today."
"Headmaster Fury was there? And I missed him?"
"Afraid so." Steve glanced down at Loki, who was still sleeping fitfully in Thor's arms. Thor followed his friend's gaze, and began softly rubbing his little brother's back, hoping it would bring him a little comfort. Steve looked back at Thor nervously, "How is he?"
Thor sighed, "As well as to be expected."
"He didn't know?"
"Neither of us did."
Steve stared helplessly at Thor, seemingly at a loss for words. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Steve's words returned to him, "Can I get you guys anything? It's dinner. Bucky and I can bring something up."
"If you could, that would be nice."
"Yeah!" Steve said, hopping up from where he'd been kneeling next to Thor's bed, "we'll bring something up once we're done eating."
"Thank you." Thor said, nodding in Steve's direction.
Steve gave him a quick nod back before scurrying out the door. Once his roommate was gone, Thor turned his attention back to Loki. He was hesitant to wake Loki up, fearing his brother's reaction, but he knew his brother had to eat, and with all the crying he'd done, he needed water too. Thor moved his hand from Loki's back to his shoulder, shaking him a little.
"Loki" he whispered as the younger boy blinked his eyes open.
"Thor?" he whispered back.
"It's time to wake up Loki, my friends will be bringing us dinner soon."
"Tell me it was a nightmare."
Thor's breath caught in his throat, "What?"
"The red letter." Loki said desperately, craning his neck to catch a better view of Thor, "Tell me I was dreaming."
Thor sighed. "I'm sorry little brother, I cannot."
Loki let his head fall, pulling his knees to his chest. "Than I am not your brother."
Thor opened his mouth, speechless, before grabbing Loki's shoulders and turning him so they were face to face. "You will always be my brother. It doesn't matter who your parents are, or mine. You could be an alien for all I care! We were raised together. We played together. We fought together. That makes you my brother, whether you like it or not."
Tears had started freely falling down Loki's face as his brother spoke. "Oh Thor," Loki smiled, burying his face in Thor's shoulder, "You really are the biggest, sweetest idiot in the whole world."
Thor put his chin on the top of Loki's head, smiling as his younger brother tried to collect himself.
"Besides," Loki said, sounding more sure of himself, "If anyone was the alien it'd be you."
